Admission FAQs

Designated CPAs cannot register in CPA preparatory courses; however, designated CPA members now have the option of qualifying for public accounting registration post-certification.
CPAWSB is pleased to offer the CPA Post Designation Public Accounting (PDPA) program to CPA members in good standing who have never met the qualifications for registration to practice public accounting in their jurisdictions.
For more information about the PDPA program, please visit our website: http://www.cpawsb.ca/pdpa/faqs

If you have completed a CPA preparatory course or received transfer credit for it, it becomes unavailable for registration via My CPA Portal. Please contact the CPA preparatory courses Admissions Services team at prepapplication@cpawsb.ca for assistance in overriding the system so that you can register.

CPA preparatory courses are very demanding and we recommend that students plan to spend up to 20 hours of study time per week for core preparatory courses and up to 15 hours per week for non-core preparatory courses. Given this time commitment, we generally recommend students enroll in only one course per semester. If you plan to enroll in two courses concurrently, meeting the time commitment may be challenging if you are also working.

Core Module 1, the first module of the CPA Professional Education Program (CPA PEP), is offered every Spring, Fall, and Winter. If you are taking CPA preparatory courses and applying to CPA PEP, you will need to complete two steps:

Submit an admission application to CPA PEP selecting the category of ‘PREP Graduate’.

Register for the module after your admission application is approved.

For questions about transitioning to CPA PEP please contact the CPA preparatory course delivery team at prepmodule@cpawsb.ca.

Students pay annual dues to be eligible to enroll in courses. New students registering with CPAWSB between April 1 and September 30 pay full-year dues and new students registering between October 1 and March 31 pay half-year dues. Continuing students pay full-year dues annually. Dues expire on March 31 of each year.

Non-active years are not available to students. If you do not plan on registering for any courses between April 1 and March 31 (CPAWSB’s academic year), you can choose not to pay annual dues; however, you will need to repeat the transcript assessment and admission application process again before registering for other courses.

Paying annual dues maintains your student status with CPAWSB, allows you to register in CPA preparatory courses, and allows you to register with a provincial CPA body to access the CPA career site and attend chapter events and workshops.

STEP 1: Submit an Admission Application
If you have received a completed transcript assessment, you are eligible to submit an admission application for CPA preparatory courses; this admission application allows students to later register for a course. To submit an admission application:

CPAWSB is not classified as a designated learning institution so we cannot assist with a Canada student loan or student grants. Consider contacting your financial institution to see if you are eligible for a student line of credit.

If you have registered in the wrong course you can switch your course registration by submitting a request to the CPAWSB Pre-professional Admission Services team at prepapplication@cpawsb.ca within two business days of the original registration. Course switches are unavailable after the course has begun.